Anti-smoking campaigns should be tailored to smoker occupations

There is a higher incidence of smoking among South Korea’s young, male white-collar workers than among young, male blue-collar workers, according to a story in The Korea Times quoting the results of a university survey.

The survey found that 62.6 per cent of young (19-34 years of age) men working in services and sales were smokers, while the figure for those working in crafts and machine operation was 62.2 per cent, and that for those engaged in the agricultural, fishing and forestry industries was 50.9 per cent.

The survey was conducted amongst 9,283 workers aged between 19 and 34 from 2008 to 2010.

It was headed by Kim Sung-roul, a health science professor at SoonchunhyangUniversity.

In the case of women, 23.0 per cent of those involved in the service industry were found to be smokers, compared to 6.5 per cent for managers and professionals, 9.5 percent for those involved in crafts and machine operation, and 16.7 per cent for those working in the agricultural, fishing and forestry industries.

Kim said that the results of the survey had shown that anti-smoking campaigns should be tailored for workers from different industries so as to boost the effectiveness of those campaigns.